The Yogis are a family of readers. We read a lot, we read lots of different kinds of stuff. We also like to go to bookstores and look at books. We don’t buy very many though. Why? Because they are expensive that’s why. Especially new hardbound books, The list price can be up close to $30. Sure you can get them discounted but only to about 50% to 60% of list.

Or you can buy paperbacks. Trade size paperbacks though are pushing $20 in some cases. Or you can wait and buy the smaller paperbacks. If your eyes are good and you are happy reading “last years books.”

I’m spoiled, I like to read newly published books. I don’t want to wait. I’m also cheap! How do I resolve all these traits? I use the library. In Tulsa County we have the Tulsa City County Library. Once you get a library card you can reserve books way in advance on their web site. They email you once they are ready and you go get them. Its easy and its FREE!!

Below is a screen shot of my current waiting list. (Sorry for the poor quality, I played with Paint and Corel Draw and this is as good as it gets, for me.) You can see I have about 14 books I’m waiting on. They’ll come in about one every two weeks or so. Every Sunday I get on the New York Times Web Site and check out what is coming up. If I see something I like I add it to my list. That’s how I come to find out about Richard Russo’s new book “That Old Cape Magic.” that I ordered today.

Final thought – You might as well use the library. You are paying for it anyway!

Question of the Day – Do you use the library, why or why not?

SuperPizzaBoy and I just got through with this book. We have been working on it at bedtime for quite a while. This series is about cats. Cats who form themselves into clans. The cats have different personalities and roles. The clans have their rivalries.

It is primarily about wild cats. House cats are looked down upon. Humans are called two legs and are best avoided. The cats fear autombiles, they are monsters, and roadways are “thunderpaths.”

This is the first book in a series. It has to do with the efforts of the cat clans to unify. The alternative is destruction for all. There is lots of adventure. SPB was enthralled with the story. We will be reading more in the series.

I give this book four stars out of four. A great book for children that adults can enjoy. Give it a try!

“Gone Tomorrow” by Lee Child is another Jack Reacher novel. Jack Reacher is an ex Army MP who is tough as nails, smart as a whip, and fierce. He carries everything he owns without a bag. When he buys new clothes, he throws away the old.

Legions of bad guys have found that when you mess with Jack you are messing with fire.

This time some punks from the middle east decide to mess with him. About 20 of them. They should have brought more help. It doesn’t go well for them.

I can’t tell you much else without spoiling the fun.

I rate this 3 stars out of 4. It was a little slow to get started.

“The Addict” is an interesting book written by a doctor Michael Stein about his efforts at treating a Vicodin addict over the course of a year.

It has a lot of interesting information about addicts and their drugs and how they are treated. However I lost interest in the book about three fourths of the way through it. I got tired with all the relapses. The book is just a little too long.

I rate this as 2 stars out of 4.

David Grann has written a heck of nonfiction book with “The Lost City of Z.” The book is about a British explorer named Percy Fawcett and his search for a lost city in the Amazon Basin. He called the city “Z.” He never found it and he and his companions disappeared without a trace in 1925 while on an expedition in the Amazon basin to find “Z.”

But really who cares about Percy Fawcett? What I loved about this book was the bugs, the diseases, the critters, and the fierce tribes. How about flies that could deposit eggs into your skin, from outside your clothes? The eggs hatch worms and then the worms dig through your flesh. Pretty amazing huh? What about the natives who could whistle the worms out? I love it. What about uncurable tropical brain diseases that can take 20 years to develop? How about tiny candiru (aka “toothpick fish”) that can swim up any orifice, including the urethra, and then stop and feed off your blood? They have external spines so when they get where they want to go, you cannot make them leave. As one web site put it they can be “resolved” only through “surgical intervention.” In other words they have to be cut out. OUCH!! I always wondered why I was never much into resolutions, now I know why. I’m not booking any tours to the Amazon either.

Of course the boring old piranhas are covered but so are electric eels that have a shock so powerful they can kill you without touching you.

The natives can be fierce, especially way back when. Some of them supposedly were cannibals. The author claims that the Brazillian government estimates there are about 60 tribes that have never encountered anyone from the outside. Or at least anyone that lived to tell about it. To be fair the tribes, yhey are very unfriendly because, the author reports, to this day – in 2009, many of the tribes people are enslaved under terrible conditions by loggers who are illegally cutting down the rain forest.

All these are the real stars of this book. Yes, the story about Percy Fawcett is interesting, but I think the guy was crazy. I like reading about the stuff that drove him crazy.

I read this book in one day. It is a great read, especially if you read just the real good parts about the bugs, diseases, critters, and fierce tribal guys.

I rate this a solid 3.5 stars out of 4.

Jack Fogerty is a crusty reporter for the Los Angeles Times. The opens with him getting laid off because he makes too much money. He can stay for two weeks if he agrees to train his new fresh faced right out of college, and much cheaper salaried, replacement.

After that things turn bad, real bad, involving … I don’t want to spoil it for you. But this is a book that I read clear through in day. I loved it and strongly recommend it.

Four stars out of four. Yeah!!

I just finished this book. It is a well done tale of two cons, legendary bank robber Jack Foley and millionair criminal and murderer Cundo, who “jail” together in prison (Road Dogs is a term for people who buddy up in prison). There is also Dawn, Cundo’s girlfriend who has waited eight years for him to get out of prison, Tico, the Monk, and an FBI agent out to nail Foley.

The Road Dogs get out of prison and the fun starts. I cannot say more without ruining the story but there is much conniving and double crossing going on.

I rate this book three stars out of four.

SuperPizzaBoy and I just finished Book Two of the Children of the Lamp Series “The Blue Djinn of Babylon.”

Its a great story about two preteen djinn John and Philppa Gaunt (genies to you “mundanes” out there) who this time travel the world looking for a lost a lost of book of djinn secrets, the “Solomon Grimoire.” John and Philippa have all sorts of adventures and misadventures. We learn all about djinns in the meantime.

I give this book 3 stars out of 4. A kids book that is not painful to read. SPB loved it. I don’t know what we are going to read next, anybody got any ideas out there?